Empire of Silence
Sun Eater, Book 1
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Empire of Silence
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Narrated by:
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Samuel Roukin
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Written by:
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Christopher Ruocchio
About this listen
Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy.
It was not his war. On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire.
The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives - even the emperor himself - against Imperial orders.
But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world.
Forced to fight as a gladiator and into the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fighting a war he did not start, for an empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.
©2018 Christopher Ruocchio (P)2018 Recorded BooksYou may also enjoy...
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What listeners say about Empire of Silence
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jason White
- 2023-02-28
Slow But Fascinating
This overall is such a fun read. My brain typically turns off during the more politically heavy parts of any fantasy or sci fi novel, but both the writing and narration in Empire of Silence were strong enough to make paying attention easy. Although the story is slowly paced, I found most of the content, mostly the characters and ideas within, interesting and fascinating enough that I plowed through all 26 hours very quickly. Highly recommended sci-fi fantasy.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Michael
- 2024-02-21
Dune-like
Great story. Reminds me of Dune. Very well planned and the lore is extensive. It feels a bit long - personally I wish this was 2 books, but I like shorter reads. The reader has an immersive voice that matches the tone of the writing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2024-07-28
Pleasant surprise
I’m surprised I haven’t heard of this series until I stumbled upon a YouTube review. It is very well written with great depth and world building. It looks forward to continuing the series.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Mike Reiter
- 2020-03-10
Space Roman Empire - Not too original
This book follows in the vein of Red Rising, with a bit of Broken Empire built in. Nothing is very original. Hadrian is the son of a powerful planetary lord in a galactic empire. Like Red Rising the empire adheres strongly to the structures approximating the late Roman/Byzantine empire. Even the name Hadrian is that of a Roman emperor. So there is a strict observance of class, bloodlines. There is a feeble excuse for excluding certain technologies, like the equivalent of Google, or guns, that would be inconvenient to the plot and easily remove obstacles on which the plot depends. The reader is supposed to believe that a people that has empires encompassing planets has to remember everything because their religion forbids simple technology like Google, or even just storing written text and being able to search it. That way people can look at your notebooks, and that you have to fight with swords. Even at that you are supposed to believe there is a galactic war going on. I am not sure how you fight a space battle with swords. Also I found it frustrating that unlike Red Rising, the book never goes into what the regular people do or how they fit in, only the ruling class. This makes the context of the story feel flat.
Also this book is just a setup for the series. The narrator hints that he become despised and killed millions but all for good reason, but at the pace the book moves, that is in the distant distant future. The tone of the book feels incorrect. It is supposed to be told from the point of view of a first person reminiscence yet the language is usually that of a third person describing the scene.
The performer is adequate, and may actually be better than that but the material requires him to take on an emotionless aire. The ending was intriguing enough that I might get the next in the series if my wish list is empty, but I wouldn't seek it out.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ryan B
- 2024-03-19
So glad there are more books!
It’s not my preferred genre but I’m so glad I started listening. The story and performance were both excellent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- blorgus
- 2023-07-06
Author's first book is amazing.
Empire of Silence is essentially everything I was missing from Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. It features a fascinating protagonist whose personal goals get tied up in the political intrigue he lives through. Hadrian is a good guy. Hadrian is ruthless. He's the narrator of this story and he knows what he is, agonizing over his mistakes like the dramatic character he recognizes he is. I was also swept away with the world building. It goes into a level of detail so unlike anything I've ever seen before. It original, yet eerily familiar, making me wonder if humanity will ever outgrow its weaker character traits. The narrative is flawless structurally, as well, keeping me engaged with moments of triumph and despair. The only thing that rung a little off to me was that Hadrian makes the same mistake at least twice. You think he would have known to do better after the first time, but I suppose that can be excused as negative character trait. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the other books.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maya T.
- 2020-07-26
good but quality changes
i love the narators reading amd the story is my fav scifi, only issue is the recording quality randomly changes for a single sentence here or there. it isnt horrible but it was really noticeable and took a second to get back into the story each time
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher
- 2023-03-31
Amazing
Completely captivating. I am not usually drawn to first person narration but I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and will be binging the rest of the series!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 2024-03-28
Slow Burn-Dune-Name of the wind Sci Fi combo.
really enjoyed even tho it was very slow. But push through future readers! the narrator has done a great job bringing every character to life.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kelvin Fong
- 2024-07-25
The story is good but…
The main character is narcissistic. He could have avoided much drama and pain if he stopped being such a jerk. However, the story would be boring if he wasn't. Slow and annoying start ends pretty strong.
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